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A huge fire has caused "extensive" damage at Glasgow's famed Mackintosh Building and hit multimillion-pound restoration work carried out in the aftermath of a previous blaze in 2014.

Scores of firefighters tackled a "significant" blaze that consumed the Glasgow School of Art building overnight and spread to nearby buildings, including one of the city's leading nightclubs.

Flames and smoke billowed from the roof of the renowned art school throughout the night and into Saturday morning, the second time in four years that a serious blaze has hit the building.

The fire has now "largely been contained" however a few pockets of fire remain which crews are currently working to extinguish.

Speaking at the scene, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the fire and the damage done to the much-loved building, described as a global “architectural jewel”, was “heartbreaking”.

The “extensive” fire has affected all floors of the historic building, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Deputy Assistant Peter Heath said.

Mr Heath confirmed early indications were that “up to 50 per cent of the building was involved directly in the fire”.

Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh Building has been severely damaged in a huge fire Credit:
PA / Police Scotland

“The building in which the fire started has been extensively damaged,” he said. “It has reached from the ground floor right through to the roof. It has been significantly damaged. We are focusing our attention on preventing it from spreading.”

The fire at the Mackintosh Building rapidly spread to "several properties including the O2 ABC nightclub causing extensive damage," the SFRS said. There were no casualties, they added.

The club is one of the city's major venues, with the Foo Fighters scheduled to perform on Saturday night.

Around 50 firefighters are continuing to work to extinguish the fire affecting the art school and adjoining buildings, with a total of nine fire engines still at the scene.

“This remains a protracted incident and our efforts very much continue at this stage to extinguish the fire and ensure the community is protected,” said SFRS Area Manager David Young, the officer in charge of the incident.

He refused to comment on whether the building had a sprinkler system and could not say where it started.

It is just four years since the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building was badly damaged in another blaze. Credit:
PA

'A building of world importance'

Scotland's First Minister said her "heart breaks" over the damage to the city's beloved building, adding: "Once again, we are indebted to the bravery of our firefighters and other emergency services.

“The fire, as I think everybody can see from the pictures last night, has been devastating.” She said it was “much, much worse” than the 2014 fire and added “the damage is severe and extensive”.

Ms Sturgeon said it was too early to say whether the remainder of the building can be saved. But the First Minister emphasised the most important thing was there had been no loss of life and praised the speed of response and skill of the fire service.

She argued it would not be helpful for her to speculate about the cause and said the Scottish Government would help in any way possible. “It’s devastating. Looking at it, it is a building that’s just a shell.”

First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon at the scene of the fire Credit:
PA

Stuart Robertson, director of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, said the fire was a ‘massive body blow’. He said he was ‘heartbroken’ and it was deja vu from four years ago.

"This is a world class building," he said. "With all the restoration work going on it’s just horrendous. I can’t really believe it.

"I’ve only seen glimpses and what the firemen are saying, reading between the lines, it looks bad. The last time they stopped it going into the east wing.

"This time it looks as though it’s gone from the east wing all the way through. I was hoping I was going to waken up this morning that I’d been dreaming last night...it’s terrible."

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said the building had been "extensively damaged"Credit:
Getty

Neil Baxter, an architectural historian, said it was a ‘tragedy’ as it was ‘by far’ Glasgow’s most important building and it has previously been voted the UK’s most architecturally significant building.

He said: “It is a building of world importance. It influenced the evolution of 20th century architecture across the globe and its loss, and that seems to be what we’re looking at, is just a tragedy for all of Glasgow.”

He added: "The fact that Mackintosh’s masterpiece, the most substantial building he created, seems now to be destroyed or substantially destroyed, in irony upon irony the 150th anniversary of his birth, this is just beyond belief. It seems unreal."

Professor Alan Dunlop, a renowned architect who trained at the Glasgow School of Art, said: “I am devastated by what has happened.

“The even more horrible thing about what’s happened now is the building does look as though from the inside it’s been totally gutted.

“All that seems to remain is the stone walls. The deeply sad thing about it was yesterday was graduation day so they (the students) celebrated and were very happy and then to wake up the next morning, they will be very sad indeed about it.”

Asked if the school will be rebuilt, he said: “I’m sure there will be the will to reinstate it. “But then there’s the debate to be had whether if we reinstate it, rebuild it will it be an original Mackintosh building or will it be a copy of a Mackintosh building?”

He said there may be an upside if the contents of the Mackintosh library were being held in storage elsewhere while the restoration from the 2014 fire was completed.

Firefighters continue to battle the blaze at the Glasgow School of ArtCredit:
Getty

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the TV images of the fire were “difficult to watch”.

“These are iconic buildings in Scotland’s biggest city, and buildings I have often visited,” he said.

“On behalf of the Labour Party, I would like to extend my thanks to the emergency services who reacted with such professionalism on Friday night and worked tirelessly through the night to save these buildings.

“Hard questions will be asked as to why and how the Mackintosh building has now suffered two serious fires within four years, in the meantime we can be relived that there appears to have been no serious casualties.”

Fire 'much more extensive' than 2014

Shadow Scottish minister Paul Sweeney, Labour and Co-operative MP for Glasgow North East, said he was "devastated" a fire had consumed the building again, calling it the "most architecturally important building" in the city.

"Oh dear, the 1909 library extension, that was the origin of the 2014 blaze is now fully alight too. It looks like the entire interior space is now fully alight," he said.

"The best we can probably hope for is structural facade retention and a complete rebuild of the interior. Devastating."

Social media users have spoken of their sadness at the fire at the Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School of ArtCredit:
Getty

There must be "a comprehensive national effort to ensure every possible option to salvage and restore what is one of the finest edifices in the history of world architecture is pursued in the wake of this latest setback," he said."I'll be doing everything I can to promote that in Parliament."

David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, said the Government "stands ready to help" the Glasgow School of Art "financially or otherwise".

The Glasgow School of Art was built in the late 1890's by Charles Rennie Mackintosh Credit:
Getty

Susan Aitken, the city council leader, called the fire "devastating". She added: "It’s heartbreaking. I saw the news last night and it was just disbelief.

"This is a really emotional thing, it just goes beyond shock. A lot of people feel almost as emotional about the ABC. It’s really, really upsetting.

"The priority for us now, the council and our partners, is to save that building. We will convene starting on Monday a task force to start thinking about what we do next."

Witness Aidan Dick said the fire and smoke grew in intensity "in the space of a few minutes".

He tweeted: "Glasgow School of Art is on fire again. Heartbreaking. My thoughts go to all students and staff, and I hope no one was caught in the blaze."

The scene of the fire at the Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh BuildingCredit:
PA/Douglas Barrie

Police said a number of roads around the building were closed, including part of Sauchiehall Street from Charing Cross to Rose Street, while Renfrew Street from Garnet Street to Cambridge Street has also been shut. The public have been urged to stay away from the area.

Shock at 'terrible' blaze

Connor Neil said people had been evacuated from their homes and there was a "big orange light" which could be seen from streets away.

The 22-year-old chef from Glasgow said: "We've got just to the top of Renfrew Street and police closed off the road.

"You can just see a big orange light coming from the school and people are being evacuated from their homes."

Bob, a product design tutor and former student and tour guide at the school, said: ‘It just seems like such a shame that a lot of people won’t get the inspiration and joy that he (Mackintosh) intended from the building.

“Now nobody else can experience that. I’ve got a daughter I wanted to take along. I feel it’s a shame for the future students who are coming here that they won’t get the delight of that building.

“I was stood here in the rain four years ago. For it to happen four years later is a body blow. It seems incomprehensible. “It looked like it had been bombed when I saw he pictures. I feel like I’m paying my respects.”

Ling, a 21-year-old imperial design student from Singapore, said: “It’s only my second week there and it’s a beautiful building. It makes me very sad.”

Alex Kapranos, singer of Franz Ferdinand, was among those on social media reacting to the "terrible" blaze.

Sam Patterson, 30, vice president of the Glasgow Institute of Architects and studied architecture at the art school for five years.

Watching as firefighters hosed the building, he said there was a sense of "disbelief".

Mr Patterson, who graduated in 2012, said: "One of the first architecture books I bought as a first year student about to move to Glasgow was 100 buildings of the 20th century and page one was Glasgow School of Art.

"It's a shocker, especially in Mackintosh's 150th anniversary and so close to being completed.

"It's difficult really to say much until there's an evaluation or report on the building but certainly the spread of the fire is far greater than previous years and from what I can see walking around this morning it's going to be a far more challenging project to redo."

One eyewitness described a "big orange light" which could be seen from streets awayCredit:
Getty

Isabel Garriga, president of the institute, said: "The Glasgow Institute of Architects woke up this morning to hear the most horrific news about one of the most beloved iconic buildings in Glasgow, a building that is a lot more than a building, an architectural masterpiece, a place we love deeply, a place where a lot of us have studied, worked and grown as architects.

"The sad news that the Glasgow School of Art was ravaged once again, when it was finally recovering from the fire four years ago has shaken all of us and we would like to offer our full support to the Art School in these dark times."

The institution is one of Europe's leading art schools, while the listed Mackintosh-designed building is a tourist attraction in its own right.

🎥WATCH: A massive fire has engulfed Glasgow School of Art. We’ll be here throughout the night with updates. pic.twitter.com/2NONj09qev

Construction work started on the building in 1897 after Mackintosh won a design competition while working for Glasgow architects Honeyman & Keppie. It took around 10 years to complete due to funding issues and several alterations were made by Mackintosh during the process.

More than a century later, it still operates as a working building serving hundreds of students.

Peter Swanton, a former Glasgow School of Art student who also witnessed the 2014 fire, said it "hurts" to see the Mackintosh in flames again.

"The Glasgow School of Art was a home away from home for 4 years and still such an important part of my life. To see this from my roof hurts," the designer wrote on Twitter.

"I was standing in front of the Mac 4 years ago as it burned. I had just finished my first year of art school. I never thought I would see the same scenes being repeated."

Firefighters continued fighting the Mackintosh Building fire through to the morningCredit:
Getty

Rachael Docherty, a former graduate of the art school, said it was "terrible".

"This is a lot worse than the last one," the 29-year-old told the Press Association.

"We were out earlier on and at 12am we came out it just looked like (it was) fireworks and now it's just white smoke.

"The Mac building is a piece of Glasgow history, it's not art school history, it's Glasgow."

Local resident John McInnes, 22, said: "I can't believe that this has happened again to such an iconic building. It's unbelievable. Questions need to be asked, they spent so much on renovation, but this seems so much worse than the last one."

Gaia Thetmanis, 21, a painting and print student about to start her third year, said she studied in a different building but it had been her goal to work from the Mackintosh building after its restoration.

She said she had been ‘shocked’ by the fire, adding: “It was a symbol. I didn’t manage to study in the GSA when it was still in use so for us it was a goal to finally get in there.

“Obviously that’s not happening. We thought it was a joke at first. We couldn’t believe it was happening all over again. I still can’t believe it, it’s so weird.”

Restoration project

The Glasgow School of Art had gone to extreme lengths to restore the Mackintosh building after the 2014 fire.

The school described itself as "custodians of an iconic piece of world architectural heritage" with a responsibility to restore it for students and staff.

A 2016 photo of the inside of the fire-damaged Mackintosh building after the 2014 blazeCredit:
PA

After the blaze significantly damaged the west wing, including the loss of the celebrated Mackintosh Library, the first stage of the restoration was to fit a temporary roof over the site.

A full-scale model of part of the library was later built to test if the original materials and techniques from Mackintosh's 19th century design could be used in its reconstruction.

The specifications for the model bay were developed with "meticulous research" into every aspect of the original design and construction of the library. To rebuild the wooden library, the restoration team sourced wood from the US which was the same age as that used in Mackintosh's 19th century design.

The first phase saw outer work with damaged stonework repaired and the roof replaced before the delicate process of restoring the west wing and upgrading the east wing interiors began last year.

Artifacts that had been recovered by archeologists from the library at the Glasgow School of Art in GlasgowCredit:
PA

Hollywood star Brad Pitt and Dr Who actor Peter Capaldi were made trustees of The Mackintosh Appeal to support the rebuild.

Pitt is a fan of building designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Capaldi is a former art school student.